Blue Öyster Cult

If Aerosmith is the archetypal American hard rock band, Blue Öyster Cult is the true gnostic American hard rock band. Promoted for a time as “the American Black Sabbath,” BÖC is a tight, heavy combo with an ironic, Lovecraftian cosmic point of view. Though BÖC’s 1976 single “Don’t Fear the Reaper” is among the most famous rock songs of all time, most of the band’s material remains relatively unknown except to the legions of underdog rockers the band has inspired.